A Personal Knowledge Base, or PKB, is a "cloud-like" application that can be used to store accumulated resources related to any number of personal interests. For this class, we were required to gather a multitude of educational resources related to science, teaching science, the NGSS standards, and anything else we might have found interesting.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about the application, Evernote. Evernote took a very long for me to navigate at first. While I love that it is a free storage engine, I do not believe it is set up for extreme efficiency. There is no real organizational feature to the application. Yes, you can form different "notebooks" for different inquiries, however the "notes" created within the notebook have no real organization. New notes are added to a random notebook created, which is not always the notebook the new note belongs to. Once said note is created and saved, you will not be able to find it unless you saw which notebook it was added to. The notebook's notes are also set up so the newest notes go to the top of the notebook. It took me almost 30 minutes to located how to change the order and even then, there were not many options as to how to dictate the order of notes. The only reason I have such an issue with this is because the search feature is only available for premium members. However, I like Evernote better than Wikispaces, yet there are limited reasons why. I like how various people are able to view, create and edit notes using the "Shared-Notebook" feature. However, the shared notebook can become cluttered with a lot of notes and without the search feature, it is hard to locate notes, important information can get lost in the muddle. The web-clipper is a great , however it only works if you are on a computer. Since I usually use my iPad because it's faster, I never really got a chance to take full advantage of the web-clipper. I like how Evernote works efficiently with Mac Computers. One can attach material by dragging documents and photos into new notes with ease--not many other knowledge bases have that feature. Also, there is no limit on storage, which is a phenomenal feature to this application. The final feature I like about Evernote is "Work-Chat." This application allows for teacher to student(s) and student to student interaction.
What is the extent of my current PKB? Well, I have four current notebooks on my Evernote account. They are titled, EDC 430-484-6 Shared Notes, EDC 430: Mercedes Matson, Group Lesson Plan, and Mercedes Matson: A Glimpse Into My Education Career. Mercedes Matson: A Glimpse Into My Education Career was the first notebook I created on Evernote. The contents of my four notebooks include educational resources, lesson plans, personal reflections, questions I have, interviewing tips and questions, shared resources, accommodations, and observations I'v made during my my practicums. A large number, if not all, of my notes are school-related. I have compiled a total of 161 notes within my four notebooks.
I believe if one is trained on how to navigate themselves through Evernote properly, it can be a very useful resource in contributing to ones professional learning. One can make a new notebook for every professional year of their lives or divide the contents of notebooks into different categories such as resources, lesson plans, or simply TedTalks or other cool and informative videos. I believe my PKB contributes to my learning now more than ever. My rationale behind this is--as a beginning teacher, one needs to be able to draw from a vast array of educational resources in order to succeed. I hope I can continue to use this knowledge base as I progress through life. Unfortunately, without the proper training, I do not believe Evernote would be beneficial to ones professional learning now and in the feature.
PKB Reflection
A Personal Knowledge Base, or PKB, is a "cloud-like" application that can be used to store accumulated resources related to any number of personal interests. For this class, we were required to gather a multitude of educational resources related to science, teaching science, the NGSS standards, and anything else we might have found interesting.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about the application, Evernote. Evernote took a very long for me to navigate at first. While I love that it is a free storage engine, I do not believe it is set up for extreme efficiency. There is no real organizational feature to the application. Yes, you can form different "notebooks" for different inquiries, however the "notes" created within the notebook have no real organization. New notes are added to a random notebook created, which is not always the notebook the new note belongs to. Once said note is created and saved, you will not be able to find it unless you saw which notebook it was added to. The notebook's notes are also set up so the newest notes go to the top of the notebook. It took me almost 30 minutes to located how to change the order and even then, there were not many options as to how to dictate the order of notes. The only reason I have such an issue with this is because the search feature is only available for premium members. However, I like Evernote better than Wikispaces, yet there are limited reasons why. I like how various people are able to view, create and edit notes using the "Shared-Notebook" feature. However, the shared notebook can become cluttered with a lot of notes and without the search feature, it is hard to locate notes, important information can get lost in the muddle. The web-clipper is a great , however it only works if you are on a computer. Since I usually use my iPad because it's faster, I never really got a chance to take full advantage of the web-clipper. I like how Evernote works efficiently with Mac Computers. One can attach material by dragging documents and photos into new notes with ease--not many other knowledge bases have that feature. Also, there is no limit on storage, which is a phenomenal feature to this application. The final feature I like about Evernote is "Work-Chat." This application allows for teacher to student(s) and student to student interaction.
What is the extent of my current PKB? Well, I have four current notebooks on my Evernote account. They are titled, EDC 430-484-6 Shared Notes, EDC 430: Mercedes Matson, Group Lesson Plan, and Mercedes Matson: A Glimpse Into My Education Career. Mercedes Matson: A Glimpse Into My Education Career was the first notebook I created on Evernote. The contents of my four notebooks include educational resources, lesson plans, personal reflections, questions I have, interviewing tips and questions, shared resources, accommodations, and observations I'v made during my my practicums. A large number, if not all, of my notes are school-related. I have compiled a total of 161 notes within my four notebooks.
I believe if one is trained on how to navigate themselves through Evernote properly, it can be a very useful resource in contributing to ones professional learning. One can make a new notebook for every professional year of their lives or divide the contents of notebooks into different categories such as resources, lesson plans, or simply TedTalks or other cool and informative videos. I believe my PKB contributes to my learning now more than ever. My rationale behind this is--as a beginning teacher, one needs to be able to draw from a vast array of educational resources in order to succeed. I hope I can continue to use this knowledge base as I progress through life. Unfortunately, without the proper training, I do not believe Evernote would be beneficial to ones professional learning now and in the feature.